Oct 1, 2012

Some of you may be asking, quinoa for breakfast? Well yes, quinoa served warm, with it's nutty taste and chewy texture, pairs beautifully with fresh crisp autumn apples, golden raisins, pecans, warm milk, vanilla and cinnamon – a delightful breakfast that is both protein packed and comforting.

I just love the flavor sensations from each spoonful – the sweetness of the raisins, the pop from the quinoa, and the crunch of the apple and pecans. Fresh pears and cranberries would also make a wonderful alternative to
apples and raisins. If you like your cereal a little sweeter you can
drizzle it with a teaspoon of honey just before eating. One bowl will keep you fueled and satisfied until lunch.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a hunger-curbing and power-packed nutritional all-star. Loaded with satiating protein (8 grams per cup) and filling fiber (5 grams per cup), this superfood digests slowly, which keeps blood sugar and insulin levels steady. You’ll also get impressive doses of doses of thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, zinc, potassium, magnesium and selenium, along with 15 percent of your daily iron needs. No wonder the ancient Incas, who considered the crop sacred, referred to quinoa as the mother of all grains!

Be sure to rinse the quinoa well before cooking to rinse off the saponins which has a slightly bitter flavor. I like to warm my milk up, then pour it in right before serving. Enjoy!

I was planning on making something similar this week since I have some left over quinoa in my fridge! I'll be using almond milk and walnuts instead though. I didn't even think of adding applesauce, what a great idea!

To everyone wanting to know if it reheats well, I make something similar with almond milk and raspberries and it reheats beautifully. Just wait and add the milk as you reheat it and it's perfect. I'll definitely be trying this variation very soon. Thanks Gina!!

Hi. Sorry for maybe a stupid question, but as I am reading I'm wondering, when you say to divide quinoa into four bowls, then add toppings, are the amounts for the toppings in the recipe to be divided by four as well?

To Anonymous, that poster could easily be a teenager that has never had the chance to cook yet! Why would you try and stop someone from learning to cook, just as they are asking a simple question? I'm shaking my head in disbelief.

I am loving all of your breakfast ideas lately! Have been living on your overnight pumpkin oatmeal, now I will try this. Thank you! These breakfasts are easy to make and bring to work. The faculty room always smells so good when I heat up breakfast :)

Hi Gina!I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your website. Everything I've made from here is delicious! Thank you so much for creating recipes that fit my healthy eating lifestyle without all the "no fat=no taste" ingredients. I love how you break down the nutrition facts too!I had this quinoa dish this morning- delicious! Easy to make as oatmeal, but much tastier and filling. This weekend I'm making the Buffalo Turkey burgers with Blue Cheese slaw... Can't wait!! Yum!

LOVE Quinoa! Incredible recipe, Gina!!! BTW: Trader Joe's has the best price on it that I've found. They even have the multicolored one, which would look awesome in this dish. TIP: Making Quinoa in the rice cooker is super easy. You just rinse and cook like rice. Easy Peasy.

There are different types of quinoa. Are they all the same or are they different? I usually buy the tricolor quinoa at Trader Joe's and the grains look different size/texture than your picture. Thanks!

Tried this recipe. Lots of ingredient$$ and prep time for something that taste so BLAND. Right now, the percentage of skinny taste recipes I've tried that are good: 2. Those that are bland/not enough taste: 4.

Being celiac I'm always looking for new ways to get in good fiber. This is one if the best things I have tried in a very long time. Hearty and so good. I was out of applesauce today and put a spoon of strawberry preserves in it - the base quinoa can be changed up with so many options. Thank you for this great idea!

My family just purchased its first package of quinoa for a recipe, and I was looking for other things to do with it and saw this recipe.. I REALLY like this, and I think my family is going to like it tomorrow when I make it for them! I understand a bit of the bitter taste.. (I dont think I rinsed quite long enough) The great thing is that it is ALL about the mix-ins! as versatile as oatmeal or cream of wheat. Is there anything you know that doesn't work for this? Thanks again.

Love quinoa and for those who are not sure....the first time I tried it I was like "seriously you want me to eat 'that'" said emphatically. Now I find myself putting it into EVERYTHING. A must add to turkey burgers - they tend to dry out during cooking and the quinoa absorbs the juices and releases as the meat cools down and for some odd reason have come to love that little pop quinoa has. Nichole in PA.

Ps. Costco has hands down the best price and it's organic which is an added bonus.

My family and I just enjoyed a bowl of this, making enough for us to have for breakfast later this week. I have a surfeit of bananas and some coconut milk hanging around that would make a good springtime version of this. Thanks, it was great!

This looks really delish and I plan to make it this weekend! I track all my meals in myfitnesspal.com. I know you have 1/4 of the recipe, but would you happen to know exactly how much does a serving equal?. Is it approximately 3/4 cups, 2/3 cups, 1/2 cups, etc. Thank you!

After preparing this, I can say wow! This was my first quinoa based dish and I am pleasantly surprised. I am not a breakfast person so it's easy for me to start the day off wrong with sugary, processed food choices. This has helped curve those poor choices and will be a staple in my morning routine.

This was absolutely delicious. I'm the only one in my house that eats quinoa, so I just reheat some quinoa in a single serving and added the toppings to taste, I'll be having this more often for breakfast!!!

I have some already cooked quinoa in my fridge from another recipe and I was wondering what the measurement would be if I used already cooked quinoa? Does one cup of uncooked equal 4 cups cooked? I think I read that somewhere lol. I was looking for a way to use up my leftovers...this looks so yummy!!

Hi, I know most of the post on here are much older but for those reading after this post I measured this after cooking and got almost 4 cups. Gina This is very good. I fixed some today to have for the next few days and realized I didn't have apple sauce and not wanting to open a jar of homemade pear honey or spice plum jam I added a tip of a spoon of peanut butter and the raisins and milk. I only ate 1/4 cup just to sample it tonight. So this could be fixed with what ever flavor tickled your fancy.

Hi I didn't have all the ingredients for this recipe so I used banana extract, 1 1/2 mashed banana's I had in the freezer,( I let my banana's get very brown spotted, sweeter then I freeze) with 2 tbsp. of smooth peanut butter, cinnamon, almond milk to the consistencey you like ( I didn't add the whole cup ) walnuts! OMG OMG this was out of this world delicious!!!! I had to stop myself from eating the whole batch :-)